1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network authentication technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to mechanisms in which one computing system (i.e., a supplicant) authenticates to another computing system (i.e., an authenticator) in a manner that is independent of the underlying data link and physical layer protocols used to communicate between the supplicant and the authenticator.
2. Background and Related Art
Never before have so many had access to so much information, and never before have so many had the ability to readily communicate as they do now. This new era of highly advanced communication and information access is largely enabled by the advancement and proliferation of computer networks throughout the globe. Any individual having access to an Internet-enabled computing system may communicate with (or access resources from) any one of millions of other similarly-enabled computing systems (and potentially also their associated users). While this is certainly advantageous when behavior is appropriate, there is also the unfortunate opportunity to cause harm.
In order to mitigate harm caused in such a network environment, access to more highly sensitive network resources are controlled so that only certain computing systems or users may access that network resource. In order to identify a computing system to thereby make intelligent decisions on whether or not to grant access, it is necessary to determine the true identity of the computing system requesting access. Proper identification is accomplished in a common network process called “authentication”.
Different data link and physical layer protocols implement different methods for authentication. For example, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, IEEE 802.3 and GPRS are examples of data link and physical layer protocols that each have their own authentication mechanisms. IEEE 802.11 has several physical media variations and is used for conventional wireless Local Area Network (LAN) transport. IEEE 802.15 is a wireless data link and physical layer protocol based on BLUETOOTH standards. IEEE 802.3 is a LAN protocol that governs link layer connections on a wired physical media. GPRS is a wireless media protocol often used in wireless Wide Area Networks (WANs) such as cellular networks.
As each data link and physical media transport has its own authentication mechanism, different authentication modules are used depending on the data link and physical layer protocols used in the network. Accordingly, authentication mechanisms are strongly tied to the data link and physical layer protocols. What would be advantageous is an authentication engine that works across multiple data link and physical layer protocols.